Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:

Following an increase in shallow volcanic earthquakes and more intense degassing, including possibly venting of some ash, the alert level of Copahue volcano in Chile/ Argentina was raised to Orange.

Plosky Tolbachik volcano in Kamchatka continues to erupt lava flows from the southern fissure. The eruption has stabilized and shows no signs of ending soon at the moment.

Thermal anomalies and an ash plume observed at 12,000 ft (3.7 km) on Friday and Saturday show that the lava dome of Paluweh north off Flores, Indonesia, remains active, and probably continues to produce pyroclastic flows.

The rate of emissions at Popocatépetl volcano in Mexico remains low, but an impressive SO2 plume visible today as well as continuing crater glow confirm that fresh magma is steadily rising within the volcano.

Activity of the Guatemalan volcanoes Fuego and Santiaguito has not changed significantly. Both continue to slowly extrude viscous lava flows and Fuego has occasional small strombolian explosions. A small rockfall could be seen descending the slopes of the Santiaguito dome on the latest webcam image from 5 Jan morning. Pacaya volcano remains at unrest, with numerous small volcanic earthquakes, but has not had any other surface activity. This could change quickly, though.

Volcanic earthquakes and bursts of elevated tremor appeared on seismograms at San Miguel volcano in El Salvador.

Seismic unrest including small earthquakes and weak volcanic tremor continue at Nevado del Ruiz volcano volcano in Colombia.

Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador has calmed down a lot recently, both in seismicity and surface activity. The main hazard are lahars (mud flows) triggered by heavy rainfalls. Nearby Reventador volcano in turn seems to be becoming more active judging from seismic activity.

Kilauea volcano on Hawai'i still has a weakly active lava flow on the coastal plain and lava is entering the ocean at multiple locations.

Another small seismic swarm occurred at Mammoth Mountain in California west of the Long Valley caldera, between 4-5 January with quakes at depth of 12-15 km.